Work it Out
by MacyBear17
Summary: A what-if story set in the episode Exam Jam from season 1... How might things have been different had Macy tutored Nick instead of his brothers?... Unashamedly Nacy and Joella. Rated T cuz i'm paranoid :
1. Chapter 1

**A/N : Hi there!... First off, thanks for all your continued support through the times when i cant write to save my life. I know i haven't been updating but the plot bunny seems to have escaped its home in my mind and gone off on its own. Ah the pain of betrayal... and i fed it so well too... anyways... I will try and update my other stories as soon as i can...this weekend itself if possible. Till then here's a little something to tide you over.**

**Disclaimer : Are you kidding me?... Would i be here writing this stuff if i owned anything JONAS other than my ideas for fanfiction?...**

* * *

The JONAS firehouse was a hive of activity with the whole Lucas family getting ready for the 'bigger, better than the last world tour' tour. Kevin was almost at the edge of an emotional breakdown as he couldn't decide which guitars to take and which ones to leave, Joe was bummed out at the idea of leaving Stella to go on tour for two whole months but unwilling to talk to her about it and Nick, being Nick was stressing out about the tour, set lists and making sure he had everything right where he wanted it to be.

Stella had taken permanent residence inside her Stellavator – patent pending and Macy, who was documenting the whole behind the scenes, backstage, pre-tour experience for the fans world-wide, was quietly holed up in one corner of the top level with her laptop, getting the videos and podcasts ready for the JONAS website. Everyone was super excited about the upcoming tour before Tom Lucas walked up the stairs to give them some bad news.

Seeing Tom in a nervous state made Macy ask

"Dad of JONAS… Are you alright?"

"It's nothing Macy… Just… I just heard from your school boys…"

Nothing could've prepared them for the shocker that they were about to hear. When they heard that one of the boys had failed his exam, all of them including Kevin himself assumed that it was him that had failed. No one really expected Nick to have failed his Geometry exam, especially since he was quite good at math.

There was a major atmosphere of doom and gloom surrounding the whole house at the news that Nick would have to attend summer school to make up for it and so wouldn't be able to make it on the tour. The thought of cancelling the tour was weighing heavily on everyone's minds, especially Nick's since he felt responsible for the whole fiasco and couldn't stop blaming himself for letting everyone down.

Nick had always been the serious, sensitive one of the family and loved the fact that they could make so many people happy by virtue of their music which he had written. The guilt of not standing up to his responsibilities and the feeling of letting his fans down along with disappointing his brothers and parents was quite a heavy burden to bear on his 16 year old shoulders.

Forlorn as he was, he right now preferred it if he could be left alone to wallow in his bout of self-recrimination. So, silently moving towards the fire poles, he slid down them, preparing to sneak out after writing everyone a note and taping it to the refrigerator so that they wouldn't worry. Because whatever he was, he wasn't irresponsible. That was how he heard Macy talking to his father in the office and decided to find out what they were discussing.

"Dad of JONAS… Please… you must relax…deep breaths…"

Macy was breathing in and out deeply as if to show Nick's dad how it was done and to his surprise Tom Lucas was following her advice and did seem to get a little better. Again, Nick felt incredibly guilty about stressing his father out so much that he was hyperventilating. Also, there was some sort of hellish irony in the fact that it was he, Nick the-responsible-one Lucas that had caused his father's hypertension this time and it was the usually hyperventilating super fan Macy who was calming him down.

"Thanks Macy… I don't usually freak out like this. It's just that there are so many things to do… so many people to call and so many venues to cancel. The fans are going to be so disappointed and I just… I just don't know what to do first. Sorry… I shouldn't be dumping all this on you right now. You said that you wanted to talk to me about something. Is it something about the website?..."

"Um… Actually I wanted to talk to you about the tour Dad of JONAS… I… I think that if you speak with Mr. Halfner, our Geometry teacher and inform him about the circumstances, you might be able to work some way out in which you might not have to cancel the tour. Nick is usually a very good student and is in the good books of most of our teachers. I don't think Mr. Halfner should have a problem working out something that will make the tour program work."

For a second it seemed as if Nick forgot to breathe outside the office door. None of them had thought of that. If there was some way he could work around the test scores, maybe even take the test again, the band might still be able to go on tour. He wanted to jump into his dad's office and tell him to call his teacher as soon as possible but something made him stop for just a minute longer. This was Macy's idea and he didn't want it to seem as if he was barging in on it. If it worked, he could find a way to tell Macy that he knew that it was her idea and show her how thankful he was for helping him work it out.

He heard his father call and talk to his Math teacher. The moment he heard that he could retake the test and if he scored a perfect 100% on it, he could make up his grade enough for him to pass the semester and go on tour, it was all he could do to not jump up and down, screaming out loud. He settled for a quiet 'yes!' and a fist pump before running up the stairs to inform his brothers of the change in plans.

"Guys…guys…listen… I just heard dad talking on the phone with Mr. Halfner… He said I could retake the test tomorrow and if I scored a 100% on it, I could pass and that means we could go on tour. Isn't it awesome?"

The guys and Stella were seriously excited at the development and it resulted in whoops, back slaps and Kevin's five second dance party in which even Nick participated this time before Stella asked the most important question of the day

"Um… Sorry to be the party pooper guys… But how are you going to learn all that Geometry in a day Nick?... I mean… It's not like Kevin or Joe or even I could teach you all that…"

"Yeah dude… I might've passed.. but I myself got a D.. You have to like get an A+ or something"

Kevin was too busy figuring out what grade he had gotten and was totally out of the discussion. The atmosphere that ten seconds ago had been one of jubilation was again one of gloom. Nick was sitting at the juice bar his head in his hands, completely worried about how he was going to even attempt studying for the test.

And that was how Macy found them all, when she came up the stairs from Tom Lucas' office. Stella and Joe dispiritedly folding clothes, Kevin lying on the carpet, still trying to figure out his grades and Nick with his head in his hands, groaning at the prospect of studying all that Geometry by himself before tomorrow.

"Come on guys… Did you not hear?... Nick gets to retake the test tomorrow… If he aces this one like we all know he is capable of doing… the tour is back on again!... Isn't that exciting?"

Upon getting almost no reaction to her exuberant statement, Macy confusedly looked around trying to see why her friends were still being so gloomy about it.

"What's up guys?... I seriously thought you would be all pumped up about the possibility of a second chance at having the tour back on… What's wrong?"

Stella sighed when nobody answered Macy's question and made her way to her best girlfriend.

"Macy… We're all very happy about Nick getting a second chance at taking the test but it's just that he needs to get a perfect score on this test and none of us are good enough to tutor him for it. Nick getting the second chance might not be enough to get the guys on tour if there's no one who can actually get him to learn everything before tomorrow…"

Stella explained looking morose.

"Is that it?... Is that why all of you are this gloomy?"

"What do you mean Mace?... It's not like it's a small thing? What do you mean 'is that it?'"

Nick was almost pulling his hair out by now.

"Well… I don't know if any of you know… But I am in Mr. Halfner's class with Nick. And I scored an A+ on the exam…."

Nick got up suddenly from the bar stool as if he had been electrocuted. Walking up to Macy he asked almost hesitantly

"Macy… Are you saying what I think you are saying?"

"Yeah Macy… Quite bragging in front of poor Nick… It's not good manners to brag in front of people when they are nowhere near as good as you at something…"

This completely unconnected comment came from Joe upon which he received a sharp elbow into his midsection by his blonde stylist best friend/almost-but-not-quite-girlfriend (phew!... What a mile-long description! :P)

"Joseph!... Macy wasn't bragging… Don't you even have a single functioning brain cell in your entire head? Mace… Are you serious?"

"Of course guys… I am totally serious about what I said… I could tutor you for the test Nick. I really don't mind. Plus it would be totally awesome if you could go on tour because you aced the test all because of me!"

Macy grinned and winked cheekily at them before Stella's blonde form was all over her, hugging the life out of Macy while emitting high pitched squeals of excitement. Kevin was involved in another five second dance party while Joe stood around grinning at the girls.

"Seriously Macy… Thank you for offering to tutor me for the test… You don't know how much it means to me."

"It's okay Nick… What are friends for? Anyways don't thank me yet. You can thank me all you want after you ace the test and Mr. Halfner clears you guys for the tour. Now come on… Let's not waste any time and hit the books."

Macy pulled away from Stella and turned to the group with a serious expression on her usually happy face.

"Nick, I need you to get all your study material and get down to the dining table in five minutes. Is that okay?... Guys, if there's gotta be any chance of Nick doing well of this test we've got to help him in any and every way... So as his tutor for the day I want you guys to make sure that nothing disturbs him for the rest of the day till we are done with our cram sessions… All of you can continue whatever has to be done to get ready for the tour… Is that clear?"

There was a chorus of "Yes Ma'am!" from the half amused half wary group who were still not that used to Macy's sudden mood changes. Smirking at them, Macy made her way down the stairs to the kitchen to get herself a drink of water as she waited for Nick to get ready to study.

* * *

Macy was by nature a very focused and determined person. And now, all her focus had shifted from the JONAS tour to making sure Nick aced his test. She felt like it was her responsibility now that Nick did well on his test and that it would be because of her failure if JONAS couldn't tour this summer.

Already, Macy was thinking about ways in which she could get Nick to remember the more obscure laws of Geometry. Her brain was zipping along at the speed of light and by the time Nick was downstairs with all his books and notes, she had almost completely worked out their study plan.

Nick had almost been taken aback by the new intense Macy and he wasn't sure if he was comfortable with her as of yet. I mean come on, she had for so long been the JONAS super fan that passed out and injured all of them that even though she was almost normal now, the ingrained self-protective abilities sparked crazily as soon as she was near. His body was almost getting itself ready for either supporting her when she passed out or protecting itself when she hit him with something. Nick had to forcibly get his mind away from those thoughts and focus on the books in front of him.

Somehow, Macy could sense that Nick wasn't quite comfortable and so took a seat opposite to him rather than the one next to him like he expected. She was determined to get this done right one way or another and the best solution to the problem would be to make Nick feel as comfortable as possible with their little situation.

While Macy's inner fan girl was going into convulsions of joy, her outer-self managed to stay calm enough to make sure Nick was okay with it. There were still days when she could barely refrain from squealing or times when she could feel her eyesight getting darker and she felt quite dizzy when in the close company of the members of JONAS but most days she could restrain herself from behaving like an obsessed fan.

She was quite a bit better while dealing with Kevin or Joe since they had opened up to Macy a long while back and had genuinely expressed an interest in being her friend rather than treating her like an over obsessed fan girl like Nick was prone to doing. To be honest, Macy had always had a special thing for Nick of JONAS while she had been the over obsessed fan girl, which had often resulted in him being involved in much more painful altercations with her than his brothers.

Now that she saw them more as the Lucas brothers than the members of JONAS, she was appalled to notice that she had somehow along the way developed a crush on Nick Lucas, not Nick of JONAS, the internationally famous rock star and songwriter, but Nick Lucas, the cute curly-haired boy who went to school with her, who was an awesomely talented and passionate individual and one who was extremely competitive, someone quite a bit like her.

Macy had never believed that she was good enough for an internationally famous rock star that was the image of perfection for millions of girls around the world, so crushing on Nick of JONAS had been as safe as it had been obsessive. But now that she found out she was crushing on a friend, a person who she had found the hard way was not all that perfect, she knew that it was a lot more dangerous to her peace of mind and mental health than the simple crush she had had on a famous figure she could never dream of reaching.

Though Macy had calmed down her obsessive side and started behaving normally with them for the last couple of months, Nick couldn't really get himself to forget all the thing she had done while in the obsessive, compulsive phase and was still treating her as if she was a ticking time bomb he was forced to sit next to. Macy had found it hard in the beginning, losing her courage easily in the face of Nick's coldness but encouragement from Stella as well as Kevin and Joe had made her persevere.

The calming down process had had a major effect on the relationship that Macy shared with Kevin. Kevin was the one of the Lucas family who had first shown any interest in getting to know Macy. Now, Kevin and Macy were almost inseparable and were the best of friends who hung out frequently as Macy was the only one in their group who could talk to Kevin cheerfully about animals and nature for as long as he wanted to. Macy's open and sunny nature had cemented their friendship and now Kevin regarded Macy as one of his closest friends if not like a little sister he had never had.

The second surprising result of Macy's normalcy around the brothers was her budding friendship with the bonus JONAS. Once she had lost her freakiness around his older brothers, Frankie had started to appreciate having a sporty older sister kind of figure around the house. He loved playing games with Macy and had started insisting on having her babysit him whenever his parents had to go out even if his brothers were home, not that Frankie ever needed to be looked after by somebody he insisted.

The fact that Macy was an awesome babysitter, had formed a strong bond with Frankie very quickly, that she was extremely reliable and always followed the rules made her quickly the first choice for the Lucas parents whenever they needed someone to look after Frankie. Not only had that endeared her to Mrs. Lucas, but Macy had also offered to help out in the kitchen whenever she came over, whether it was to hang out with Stella and the guys or to babysit Frankie. She had always put things away properly and cleaned up after herself whenever she babysat, which was more than Sandy had been used to, living as she was in an all-male household.

Though Macy had successfully developed these strong bonds with so many people in the Lucas family, not one person knew of her relationships with the others. Macy didn't feel like broadcasting that she had made friends with Kevin or frequently babysat Frankie or was on quite good terms with the parents for fear of the brothers feeling as if she was trying to worm her way into their inner circle of friends. She told herself that maybe someday when they started thinking of her as a real friend, they might come to know of the real her but till then, they could go on thinking what they wanted about her and she couldn't be bothered about it. And by 'they', she mostly meant Nick.

Macy had long ago given up on Nick Lucas ever looking at her in a way other than as a fan girl of JONAS. She was resigned to the fact that Nick would never think of her the way she felt about him and that she should stop hoping for anything from that quarter of she was to leave it behind and make any progress with the rest of the group.

The day she had decided to give up on her JONAS obsession had been the day she had decided to give up on one of the brothers too. With each poster that had come down from her bedroom walls, each photograph and piece of memorabilia that had been boxed up, she had hardened her resolve. She had given up presidency of the JONAS fan club but had retained control of the website though she had told no one about it. She knew that neither Stella nor the Lucas brothers ever visited the website or found out about the club meetings. To her surprise, there had been one person from the family who had asked her about it and it had been Frankie.

To her intense embarrassment, Macy had found that everyone in the family other than Nick himself knew of Macy's crush on him and had at different times spoken to her about it. At every occasion she had alternately threatened, cajoled or convinced the person involved to not letting Nick know in any way about it. She didn't want the tenuous thread of friendship that had just started developing between them to snap due to his assumptions of what she expected from him, and their relationship.

Macy knew that she was blowing this way out of proportion and that she was giving one Nick Lucas too much importance in her life. But sadly, she also knew that first loves were often that way. The heart wants what the heart wants and heart had set its sights on the curly haired singer songwriter since the day she had first laid eyes on him.

Sighing, Macy quickly interrupted her trip down memory lane before the person in front of her could sense it and proceeded to talk Nick through what they were hoping to achieve during the course of the day.

* * *

Though Nick was intensely thankful for Macy's offer to tutor him for the exam, he had been quite apprehensive of her behavior towards him as he settled in front of her with his books open between them. He didn't think he could bear it if he had to spend the whole day dealing with her fan girl behavior. But to his surprise, not only was Macy acting perfectly normal, she also got quite irritated with him when she found that he was either not paying attention or when she felt that he was being deliberately obtuse.

More than her behavior towards him, what surprised Nick more was Macy's behavior towards the other people in his family. He knew that Macy was Stella's best friend but he hadn't known that she was that close to his brothers and parents too. They had just started tackling the pesky laws and axioms in Geometry when Kevin slid down the fire pole and flopped into a seat next to Macy with a plaintive expression on his face. Deciding that whatever Kevin's problem was wasn't more important that Nick's test, both Nick and Macy continued their study session after acknowledging the older brother. But Kevin wouldn't have that. He sighed loudly, putting up an even more pathetic expression on his face

"Kev… Is something wrong?" Macy asked almost resignedly

Perking up, Kevin launched into his problem description in a remarkably detailed ramble

"Well Mace you see… You told us before coming downstairs to take care of whatever has to be done to make sure we're ready for the tour… And now I have a major decision to make because I have to choose just three guitars out of my collection and I don't want to leave behind the rest of them… I don't know what to do… How do I choose three of them without offending the rest of my beautiful ladies?"

Macy appeared to actually be giving it some thought while Nick once more had his head in his hands while trying to restrain himself from growling out his impatience. After about half a minute of silence while Kevin patiently waited for an answer from the two of them, Macy finally turned to him with a smile lighting up her face

"Well Kevin… Do you have any favorites that you take along with you all the time?"

"No.. Not really… It's not like I can actually tell you I have a favorite even if I did. How would the rest of them feel if they found out that I had a favorite guitar huh?... Tell me?"

"O…Okey… Well then… Do you remember which ones you took with you on your last tours?"

"hmmm… Lemme think… I think it was Juliana, Leslie and Marianne in the summer tour and Amelia, Janet and Lucille Junior for the fall concerts…"

"No dude… _**I**_ brought Lucille Junior… And I broke Lucille Junior last time at school remember? I think you brought Delinda for the fall tour… yeah remember?... You played her in Dallas and freaked out when you couldn't find her afterwards?"

"Delinda? Are you sure?"

"Of course I am sure Kevin!"

"Sheesh!... No need to get all worked up Nicky!… Okay so there you go Mace… Juliana, Leslie, Marianne, Amelia, Janet and _**Delinda**_… Ok Nick?... They were the ones I took with me on last year's tours. Why did you wanna know?"

"Okay… I am just going to pretend that I didn't hear that conversation and the fact that you call your guitars by female names doesn't freak me out just a little bit… Deep breaths Macy… Keep it together…."

After a couple of deep breaths during which Kevin and Nick looked at her apprehensively, she turned to them again

"Well… I just thought you could have like a rotation system in which you could choose guitars that you haven't already taken along on tours. The ones that haven't travelled might like it better to go with you right?... You could maybe give De..Delinda and the rest of them a little break this tour and take three of the others that haven't travelled with you for a long time. That way all of them will get to go out with you and see different places…"

"Wow Mace! You… You are a genius!... I never thought of it like that. Of course the ladies that haven't been on tour deserve to come along this time. I am totally fair if nothing else… I am gonna go tell them this and get them ready for when I am gonna choose the lucky ladies that get to come along with me on tour… Thanks Macy… JONAS totally owes you for this"

With that excited comment, Kevin jumped up, caught Macy in a tight hug and ran to the fire poles, trying to shimmy up one with all his strength before giving up and running up the stairs excitedly.

Macy turned to see Nick shaking his head while smiling that half smile that still made her knees watery. Sternly telling herself that her first responsibility now was to JONAS and she could squeal and fan girl all she wanted later when they were on tour, Macy turned back to the books and started quizzing Nick on what they had covered till then.

Macy knew that Nick was an intelligent guy and all he needed was the right atmosphere and the motivation to do something and he would most probably be able to do it himself perfectly. The motivation had already been taken care of owing to the JONAS tour. And Macy had created the atmosphere that he needed so that he could concentrate on his studies to the exclusion of everything else. Soon, they were literally flying through lessons and Macy decided that they could handle taking a break for half an hour or so before getting back to tackle the rest of the syllabus for the exam.

"Nick… We're about halfway done and it's only been about three hours since we started. The rest of the stuff is going to get a little boring and stretch quite a bit so I guess it would be best if we take a break now and tackle the rest of it later. How's that for you?"

"Wow Macy… I never thought I could get it done so easily and so fast too… You're an awesome tutor Mace… Thank you so much for doing this…"

Nick smiled at her brightly before slipping off the stool and running up the stairs to probably make sure that his brothers weren't totally destroying everything he had so carefully prepared for the tour in the name of packing. The bright, face splitting smile that he gave her, was so unlike the usual Nick who never revealed more than half a smile at anything and I mean anything, that Macy was struck dumb for about half a minute before she gathered her scattered wits and proceeded upstairs to join everyone else.

Half an hour had just flown along as everyone was having a fun time preparing for the upcoming tour. The guys had practiced a couple of songs and worked some more set lists out and Stella and Macy had succeeded in packing a couple of more trunks full of back up outfits, especially for Joe since he was the most prone out of the brothers to running his one-of-a-kind Stella made outfits by either spilling something on them or tearing them. They had been having so much fun chatting and teasing each other that no one had noticed that Frankie was sitting in one corner of the huge bedroom looking a bit forlorn and left out.

Macy, who was busy folding more clothes for Stella to pack, turned to ask her something when she noticed the fourth Lucas brother dejectedly watching everyone having fun from his out of the way corner seat. Leaving the clothes for Stella, she went around to the young boy, deciding to find out exactly what was troubling him and whether there was something she could do to make him feel better.

"Hey Frankster!... What're you doing here?... Are you bored?"

"Hey Macy… Yeah… I am a little bored… When it comes to JONAS, my whole family goes crazy and I kinda get left out of the loop cuz neither do I belong in the band nor do I help mom or dad out with the organization or anything. I just feel kinda useless you know…. I mean hanging out with Big Rob is fun for some time but after a while even that gets old and most of the time I have nothing to actually occupy myself with during the tour"

Macy wrapped her arms around the younger boy, comforting him while she thought of ways to get him interested and things to keep him occupied during the tour. She was glancing around the room, desperately hoping for some inspiration to hit because she loved the kid like her younger brother and she didn't want him to feel left out or like he wasn't important. Just as she was about to sigh and give up on it, her eyes landed on her laptop and video camera equipment and she brightened up.

"Frankie… I have a proposition for you…"

You would think a ten-year old wouldn't understand big words such as those but Frankie was no normal ten year old. He was Nick's brother for gods' sake and Nick i-am-three-points-shy-of-genius Lucas had himself agreed that Frankie was far cleverer than him.

Frankie didn't appear too eager at the idea yet because he didn't want Macy to pity him or feel sorry for him.

"What is it?"

He asked her a little suspiciously.

"Well… You know how I like to keep the JONAS fan site updated regularly?"

At Frankie's nod she continued

"And you know that I am not gonna be able to come along on the tour right?... So I won't be getting videos and updates of news from all the venues or from the JONAS jet or the tour bus… So… My proposition for you is this… Would you like to work for me and help me update the site by providing me with videos and news from the different venues?... You'll probably be so busy recording videos for the site and mailing or messaging updates to me that you wouldn't have any free time left… What do you say?"

It was almost beautiful watching the happiness sweep across the serious little boy's face as he almost jumped up and down in glee at the prospect of actually having some responsibility this time around

"You're going to be very serious about it Frank… You are going to be the only link between JONAS and the fans all round the world for the next couple of months. I will only be able to upload whatever you send me…. So what do you think?... Will you be able to do it?"

Frankie's chubby little arms had wrapped Macy in an uber tight hug as she heard his muffled words sounding from somewhere near her waist

"Thank you Thank you Thank you Macy… You're the best… Of course I'll do it… And just you wait… I'll do my job so well that you'll want me to do this for you all the time. I am gonna send you awesome videos and news bytes and recordings and so many other things Macy… You're gonna love this."

A slightly evil expression crossed his face and he said

"I'll also be sending you all the blooper videos and lots of embarrassing moments of the members of JONAS forever captured on videotape… Oh Yeah… I am gonna have so much fun this time…. World tour here I come!"

Before she could stop him, Frankie gave Macy another tight hug and raced of complaining at the top of his voice as to why they had to wait another day before they left for the tour. The rest of the family, who weren't used to Frankie being enthusiastic about leaving on tour, was left astonished and quite speechless. Nick, who had been watching and listening to Macy deal with his younger brother, was left speechless for quite another reason. He had never expected the excitable and always on edge Macy to take the kid so seriously, nor could he have thought out such a perfect solution for Frankie's problem. He had to admit it. Macy Misa had just solved more than one problem when she had gotten Frankie interested in the tour and its preparations. He would have to deal with Frankie being in his face with a video camera for the rest of the tour but he felt he could manage if it kept his brother happy.

Macy was not at all turning out to be what he had expected. Nick had for so long put Macy in this neat fan girl box in his brain and had expected her to contentedly sit there while he led his super organized life in peace but he should've known that that was exactly what she wouldn't do. She had broken out of her box spectacularly and was now occupying more and more of his mind which was refusing to think about any other topic. Realizing that he had just spent five minutes staring at her like an idiot, Nick shook himself and went back to organizing and re-organizing the different set lists.

* * *

After a further half hour, when Macy and Nick returned to the dining table to continue studying for his exam, they were appalled to find a profusion of cameras, recording equipment, tapes, disks and flash drives piled high on the table and taking up almost every other flat surface in and around the dining counter at the firehouse. And coming from amidst all the high tech gear was Frankie's voice, placing an order for some spying equipment over the phone. He was ordering a pair of night-vision goggles and some high resolution infra-red and high speed cameras along with some remote bugging devices.

Nick almost shuddered at the monster that Macy had possibly unleashed and shrugging at her, proceeded to get his books out of Frankie's way while he still could. Pulling Nick by his hand, Macy took him outside the firehouse

"Come on Nick… I don't think we're gonna get any studying done here… We could… If you don't have a problem with it I mean…"

"What is it Macy?... Go on… What did you want to say?"

"It's just that you need to study for your exam and I don't know if you'll be able to study here so I just thought… Maybe you could come over to my house and we could get some studying done… It'll only just be my mom there so it'll be much quieter…"

She trailed off awkwardly. Had it been any other day, Nick would've cheerfully refused. But seeing as he had no other option, Nick also awkwardly nodded his head and after informing his mom of the change in plans, Nick and Macy headed over to her house which was just around the corner from the firehouse.

As they turned the corner, there was an uncomfortable silence that enveloped the two, unconsciously making Macy walk faster towards her house as if getting there would lessen the awkwardness between them. Following her, Nick could only hope that he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his life by going alone to Macy's house.

From the outside, the house appeared to be a nice, normal brownstone, quite cheerful in its appearance due to its cherry red door and the window boxes that contained bright flowering shrubs. As they went up the driveway and climbed up the steps that lead to the door, Nick was almost tempted to turn around and run back to the comfortable familiarity of the fire house around the corner. Too late for that he realized as Macy opened the door, inviting him inside shyly as she called out to her mother.

"Ma… I'm home… And I've got a friend here"

A pleasantly plump middle aged woman who looked like an older version of Macy herself came towards us, smiling widely at her daughter. There was a rapid exchange of sentences between the two women in fluent Spanish as Nick stood around trying to look as if he didn't feel too out of place. After having assured of whatever she had been asking of her daughter, Mrs. Misa turned her smiling face to Nick and welcomed him warmly into their home.

"So… This is the boy huh mija? I have heard so much about you Nick and your band… What is its name? Jonah?..."

"Mamaaa…"

Macy whined in the background while Nick successfully stifled the smile trying to erupt onto his face before answering his friend's mother

"It's JONAS Mrs. Misa…"

"Hmmm…. You are Macy's friend Nick and you'll always be welcome in our house. So feel free to ask for anything if you want… And make yourself comfortable."

"Thank you Mrs. Misa… You have a very nice house…"

The pleasantries would've gone on for atleast a bit longer if Macy hadn't interrupted their conversation

"Mama… Nick has to study for a big exam tomorrow… I have offered to tutor him for it so I am going to take him up to my room and we're going to be studying for some time…. Is that okay?"

At her mother's assurance in the affirmative, Macy invited Nick to climb the stairs in front of them. Just as she turned to go up the stairs herself, Macy turned to her mother again

"Just call me down when you need help with dinner ok mama? Don't try to do everything yourself… You work yourself too hard… Let me take care of dinner tonight…"

This was another facet of the Macy mystery that Nick had never had the opportunity of witnessing before. He had never seen how Macy interacted with people other than the Lucas family or Stella. He knew that she had a lot of friends at school and was also quite popular with the teachers. He knew that she was Stella's best friend and that she was a very good friend to their stylist, helping her whenever needed and never once picking a fight or arguing about anything that Stella did pertaining to JONAS, trusting in her friend's judgment. Though he knew all this, somehow he had never paid enough attention to Macy to even notice how she acted around people when she was not being a fan girl or best friend.

As they neared the top of the stairs, Macy directed him to a door to their right and again a nameless fear took root in Nick's stomach. He had heard so many horror stories of Macy's room from Stella. The countless JONAS posters, the pictures, the complete CD collection, infinite pieces of JONAS memorabilia or JONAS-abilia as Macy liked to call it… The life sized mosaic… Dear God! What had he gotten himself into?

Bracing himself, Nick took a deep breath and entered the room and promptly got his breath knocked clear out of him. The room he had entered couldn't be Macy's room but still there was no way this wasn't her room. It was too… too Macy to be anyone else's. The room he had entered and belatedly realized he was staring at with an open mouth, was very, very different from what he had been expecting or rather dreading when he had opened the door. Yet, it was exactly what he would've pictured Macy's room to be like had he heard no horror stories about it from Stella.

The walls were a cheerful buttery yellow with free form designs in different shades of blue and green along the walls. Some were abstract and some signified proper shapes. Music notes, birds, fish, plants, flowers, and even some cartoon characters peppered her walls. The ceiling was affixed with day-glo stars in different sizes and colors. There was an old but lovingly maintained wrought iron princess bed painted white straddling the middle of one wall with a matching dresser in one corner. The other corner was dominated by a study table and chair with a display case at the back filled with countless trophies that Macy had undoubtedly won in her years as a star athlete for her various teams. Beside the study table a door was set into the wall which he guessed led into Macy's closet.

Beside the bed on one side table was a huge stereo system with a cabinet for CDs and music underneath. There was also a long low trunk on the far corner of the room which was filled chock full of athletic equipment. There were posters of various sports stars and idols of Macy's and some music groups, no pictures or posters of JONAS though.

The wall near the display case had a felt board that was filled to overflowing with pictures. There were pictures of Macy in uniform, in her normal clothes, one in a formal full length gown (he couldn't help but wonder when that had been taken… And he also couldn't help but notice that she looked beautiful in it) pictures of her family, her friends, lots of photographs of her and Stella, some of her and Kevin, a few of her with Kevin, Joe and Frankie, one or two of her and his parents (when had that happened?).

There was however one picture taking center stage at the display board and that was one of all of them which had been taken on Macy's birthday. Nick and his brothers hadn't known about Macy's birthday till they had gotten to school so they had helped Stella, albeit under threat of polyester pants for the rest of the millennium from the stylist if they didn't, stage an impromptu party at the cafeteria. Stella had already brought Macy a gift and Macy, being the girl she was, hadn't expected her idols and friends to even be there for the party, had been more than happy to just have them there, singing 'Happy Birthday' for her. Thinking back at how they had treated Macy, when she had remembered all their birthdays and even given them gifts, Nick felt more than a little guilty.

He especially, had written Macy off as just some fan girl who went crazy over their music and passed out whenever she came within two feet of them. True, Macy might've been that at some point of time but she had never been just that person. Now, Nick was slowly coming to realize that there was so much more to Macy Misa. She was an awesome friend, a super fan, a great daughter, a responsible babysitter, a matchless athlete and an all-round good person who liked to have fun in life and made sure that others were having fun along with her. She needn't do a lot of the things she did, but the fact that she did them anyway made her the person she was… selfless, generous and good natured.

Now as Nick stood gaping at her room, Macy smirked slightly as she walked past him to the side table and turned on the bedside lamp.

"Surprised?... To not see your face staring back at you from countless posters?... Isn't that what you were getting your ready for when you stopped outside the door?"

Her query was slightly sarcastic but lacked true sting as she turned and gestured to the bad and the study table.

"Take your pick Lucas and let's get down to studying so that you can ace the test tomorrow and get going on your tour…"

Something in the way she phrased it and in the tone of her voice made him look up sharply but she was already busy in setting out his books and making sure they had enough paper and pencils. Deciding to tackle this, whatever it was after studying for the exam that was going to decide his fate and the fate of their world tour, he got on the bed beside her, drifting back into the world of Cartesian co-ordinates.

* * *

_**A/N : Hope you liked this one people... there's just gonna be one more chapter... i might upload it today itself... so keep reading and review to tell me whether you liked it or not**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N : Here's the last chapter people... hope you liked this little or not so little two-shot... Reviews are love... i love hearing from you and reviews are like manna from heaven... :)**_

* * *

They had spent four more hours cramming every available theorem or axiom into his brain and as Nick had left the Misa residence last night, he had felt sure that if he tried writing any song lyrics now, he would surely end up writing down two or three Cartesian rules of Geometry in them. As it was, he had woken up today feeling as if he was still not ready to take the exam. After his mom had almost force fed him some pancakes, his otherwise favorite breakfast, he had run all the way to the school. The need to just get it over with was so strong that he almost couldn't stand still while Mr. Halfner had opened a classroom so that he could take the test.

The test had gone… Welll…. Actually he had no idea how the test had gone. He had been so tense about it that he remembered getting the blank test sheet from the teacher and he remembered giving it back to him. Everything else was just a rolling blank. He thought he had seen some answers scribbled on the paper, he couldn't be sure. He hoped that he hadn't blanked out during the exam and had turned in an empty paper or something. But whatever he had done was done and there was nothing he could do now to change it.

All he could do now was sit in the firehouse, going over and over the master list he had prepared for the tour supplies, his mind hardly able to stick on one thing other than his test scores and the fate of the tour, and patiently or not so patiently wait for the teacher to call and inform him of his fate.

Macy had been curiously absent from their morning session at the firehouse. She had told Stella that there was something that her mom needed her help with and that she wouldn't be able to come over during the day. Usually, she would've never wanted to miss even a single thing that they did in preparation for the tour. Usually, he would have to glare at her to get out of his face with that camera of hers that was almost permanently attached to her hand. Usually, she would be going around spreading her sunshine and happiness throughout the firehouse, making everyone she came in contact with calmer, happier and more focused. She was like a little fairy being, bringing light and happiness wherever she went and like an idiot, he had never appreciated exactly what she brought to his life until now, when she was not there.

He had just decided that he needed to talk to Macy before anything else happened and was searching frantically for his phone which seemed to have pulled a disappearing act, when his father bounded up the stairs calling for him

"Phone from your Math teacher…"

His hands were literally shaking as he took the receiver from his dad and proceeded to listen to his teacher take a shot at his fate

"Hello… Yes…. No…. Hmmm… Yes… No…. Ok"

Putting the pone down, Nick turned to his brothers, his father and Stella standing there with bated breath.

"So… Did you do it?... Are we going on tour?" came an impatient query but from who he couldn't say

Dazedly, he turned to his father and said

"I scored 98%... But the teacher said that he would let me pass and that I was allowed to go on tour…."

A rare face splitting smile was growing on his face as Nick got glomped on by his brothers and an over-excited Stella as they all celebrated the start of their tour. As soon as they let Nick go to get back to their final stages of preparation for the tour that had been on and then off and then on again, he frantically started his search for his recalcitrant phone.

Finally finding it hiding behind one of the recliner's cushions, he dialed Macy's number and waited impatiently while it rang. Not only did he want to tell her that thanks to her he had passed and the JONAS tour was on, but he also wanted to talk to her about the revelation that he had had since getting to know her better yesterday. He was so excited about telling her what he had figured out since yesterday that he was bitterly disappointed when her phone went on to voicemail with her happy voice saying she couldn't answer the call right now and if whoever it was left their name and number she would surely call back as soon as possible.

Deciding that he needed to talk to Macy as soon as possible, he just scribbled a message onto the whiteboard over the refrigerator and sprinted out towards the Misa residence. Two minutes later, huffing from his flat out run from the firehouse, Nick rang the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door. He didn't expect the one who answered the door to be an utterly adorable looking Macy Misa, who was pink from exertion, clad in a pair of short shorts and a red top with a broom in one hand. Obviously she had been helping her mother clean around the house and hadn't expected to open the door to a JONAS.

As he stood there silently, getting his brain in gear, Macy shuffled around awkwardly, clearly wondering why he had turned up at her house so early in the day. She was still wondering the reason behind his visit when Nick suddenly hauled her petite body to his and held her tightly to him in a bone crushing hug.

"Thank you Mace… Thank you thank you thank you"

He was murmuring this litany softly in her ear, his warm breath washing over it like a soft caress and all Macy could do was wrap her arms around his muscular body while relaxing into his embrace. Macy wanted to remember this moment for the rest of her life. It was the first time Nick had ever called her 'Mace'. Sure, everyone else called her that all the time but Nick had never called her anything but Macy… till now… It felt completely different when Nick called her by that name and she was so busy committing every little bit of this feeling to memory that she almost missed what he was saying next

"I can't thank you enough for what you have done for me Macy… I spoke to Mr. Halfner and he said that I had passed and that we could go on tour…"

He couldn't be sure but Nick thought he saw a little bit of disappointment cross her face like a shadow before it cleared and brightened considerably

"You passed!... That's great news Nick!... Awesome…. Now JONAS can go on their 'bigger, better than the last world tour' tour… I am very, very happy for you guys…."

Pulling out of each other's arms slowly, they stared at each other for almost a minute before Nick's phone rang loudly in the silence, breaking the moment. Cursing whoever was on the line for their rotten timing, Nick answered the phone

"Yeah… Nick here"

"Yo bro… Where did you go off? We couldn't find you anywhere… Dad's gonna have a heart attack if you don't get here in a minute…."

"Joe… I wrote a note on the refrigerator… Like I always do… I'll be back soon…'

"No can do little bro… Major crisis shaping up here and Dad is kinda freaking out here…. Come home… NOW!"

"Sigh…. Ok… I'll be there… two minutes…"

He clicked the button to cut the call as he turned back to Macy

"Ummm…. So I am really happy for you Nick… congrats on acing the test… And have loads of fun during the tour… You should probably get back huh?... Sounds like something major is going on…"

"ummm… Yeah… I probably should go…. I… I just… I just wanted to thank you again Macy… For all that you've done for me…. For all of us… You're a very good person and an awesome friend…."

Nick said as he reluctantly stepped back from her door and started on his way to the firehouse. The only reply he got from Macy was a soft, almost sad smile on her face as she stood at the door till he turned the corner and disappeared from sight. So he wasn't able to hear it when she said

"Goodbye Nick"

With tears in her eyes, Macy blew a soft kiss his way before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Finally, the day of the tour was here. After so much drama, it was almost anti-climactic to have to get up at some ungodly hour and get ready so that they could leave at the appointed time. The boys had hardly slept the previous night. Kevin had been found taking random naps here and there and Frankie already had a bunch of videos of him sleeping in odd positions in various places. Joe had been unusually quiet but nobody had commented about it because everyone knew that he was sad about leaving Stella to go on tour. This was one day when nobody teased anybody else. Leaving behind things and people that you love was hard enough for everybody without the additional pressure of having someone embarrass you about it.

This would be the first tour that Nick wasn't completely and utterly gung-ho about. All the members of his family knew of the reason for his new reticence but were sensible of Macy's threats and pleas from the time they spoke to her about it and didn't talk to him about it.

Nick had had a particularly bad night and was extremely irritable that morning. He had meant to find some time and slip out to Macy's so that he could talk to her about… about them… about there being a them…

But he had been thwarted in every way since the minute he had stepped foot into the firehouse yesterday on the way back from Macy's. His dad had been in the middle of a meltdown because Kevin and Joe thought it would be funny to mess with the concert schedule and set lists that they had already decided on and locked away safely. Then there had been countless other things that had had to be done and there was absolutely no way he could've gotten away. Seeing Stella saying goodbye to Joe last night had made him understand that he hadn't gotten an opportunity for that special goodbye with his special girl, Macy. He hadn't even been able to hug her again or tell her that he would miss her. Nick was almost at the point of cursing himself and his cluelessness when he heard someone at the door.

Not really interested in knowing who was banging on their door at like four in the morning, he pulled it open and was astonished to see Stella and Macy.

"W… Wh…"

"Oh look Stella…. Nick's gone speechless with shock…"

Macy smirked a bit at Stella who was too busy looking around him searching for Joe to even notice. You could almost see it, the second she found Joe behind him. Her eyes, which had been puffy and red rimmed from crying lit up like a Christmas tree. She near enough shoved Nick out of the way to run into the open arms of her favorite Lucas brother.

Joe, on the other hand hadn't expected to see Stella again after having said their farewells the previous night. They'd had a long talk and had decided that they were better off friends though it hurt with every breath to think that he could've had more with Stella if he wanted but he had been too chicken to tell her. Now, upon seeing her unexpectedly, Joe couldn't stop himself from opening his arms to her and he was relieved when he felt her soft body hurtle into his at the speed of light. He couldn't have stopped himself from saying what he was about to say, if he'd had a gun to his head

"Stella…. I don't wanna be friends…"

"Gasp…."

His best friend's incredulous voice reached him a second before he pulled back to see huge injured brown eyes filling with tears. Mentally reviewing what he had blurted out, he metaphorically kicked himself in the backside and hurried to correct himself

"I… I mean… I don't want to be just friends anymore Stella… I don't think I can handle being just friends anymore. I mean… It's not like both of us don't have feelings for each other that are deeper than friendship. I am tired of being afraid… I am tired of being scared of what happens if we take a chance and it doesn't work out… I am tired of being scared that one of these days you'll say yes to one of those jocks always asking you out for a date… I am tired of worrying that you'll forget your best friend… I am scared that you won't love me… Like I love you…"

The sudden rush of words with which he had started slowed down exponentially as he progressed in his speech and by the time he had reached the end, only Stella could hear his voice. And she was the only person who needed to. The tears in her eyes overflowed and she was honest to god sobbing into Joe's shirt by the time he had finished his impassioned speech.

"Oh god Stella… I didn't mean to make to cry… If you want to just be friends that's okay with me… Don't cry Stella-bell… Please… It just hurts me so much to see you like this… Please honey… just stop crying… We can do whatever you mmph…"

Whatever Joe was gonna say more was stopped when he felt Stella's soft, pink lips on his, stifling his words. The two of them just sank into the kiss as if they had been doing the same thing for ages…. their mouths and lips molding as if they had been created to fuse with each other's. As they pulled apart minutes later, panting for breath, Stella's eyes were sparkling with tears, warmth and most of all oceans of love for the boy in front of her…. the one who had been her best friend since they had known each other… the one who understood her better than anyone else in the world and the one who was going to be her first and last love till the end of her days.

"I love you too Joe… And I am also tired of playing games and dodging around each other. I want to be with you too and if you want to… I want to try… maybe dating?..."

"_**If**_ I want to?... What do you mean _**if**_ I want to?... Of course I want to Estella Malone… There is nobody I would want to date more in the whole wide world…."

Stella giggled at his usual way of speaking in hyperbole

"Then its settles… Joseph Lucas, go on your tour… Dazzle all your fans, play you music and then when you come back home, we'll go on a date and see where this takes us… Deal?"

Joe swooped down and kissed her again as his way of sealing the deal and they didn't say anything else for quite some time afterwards.

* * *

Seeing Joe kiss Stella was more than Nick could take as he was reminded of the fact that he could have that with his own special girl if he wanted but he had been too blind for his own good and now he might never know how she felt about them… about him. Strengthening his last bit of resolve, Nick encircled Macy's delicate wrist in his hand and pulled her uncomprehending form out into the porch, away from all the prying eyes of his family.

As Macy looked up at him with questioning eyes, Nick felt his resolve wavering. His courage of two seconds ago was simply leaving him and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Seeing that he was having some trouble being articulate, Macy decided to help him out a little

"Nick?... Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?... Is this about the tour? Or something else…"

"Uh… Well… You see Macy… I did want to talk to you about something… I… I just wanted to…"

"Yes Nick?"

For someone who made it their lives work to pour out their feelings and emotions into beautiful words, Nick had no words to say what he wanted to say. So for once in his life, he decided to be impulsive and show Macy how he felt about her instead of telling her in words. That decided, Nick just leant down and pressed his lips softly to Macy's for a few seconds before he pulled back.

Macy went rock still in shock, if nothing else as she felt Nick kiss her without even saying anything. If she had been expecting him to say or do anything it definitely hadn't been that. For the first couple of seconds she couldn't even figure out what was happening, until her wide open eyes finally gathered enough information to send to her temporarily out of order brain to tell her that Nick Lucas was in fact kissing her. She couldn't even get herself to react before he had pulled away.

Kissing Macy must've been probably the worst idea he'd ever had. No… Make that kissing Macy _**now,**_ when there was no way he could continue or pursue this to a proper end was definitely the worst idea he'd ever had. Now all he could think about was how soft her lips had been, how sweet and how much he wanted to feel them on his own again… and again.

That was definitely going to help him explain this whole bizarre situation to her… yeah right!...

"Nick… What was that about?... Why did you…k..kiss me?"

Came Macy's soft unsure voice from somewhere near his shoulder level. Turning abruptly to look into the confused face of the girl that had started to mean so much to him in such a short period of time, Nick fought to get the right words out this time.

"Macy… I just… I just wanted to tell you that I… I like you…"

"Y..You… You.. l..like me?...Me?"

"Yeah Macy… I like you… a lot actually…"

This time, he felt that it had come out sounding much better. Who knew?... Maybe practice does make perfect and he vowed that if this worked out (God! He hoped it worked out… pleaseplease) he would say it to her every day, as many times as he could.

But somehow… he didn't know… He hadn't actually thought of how she would react… how he wanted her to react to his statement but this was definitely not the way. She seemed contemplative, almost a bit sad as if she knew that something was going wrong here. Nick felt a ball of tension tighten and grow in the pit of his stomach. Somehow he had a feeling that he had misread the situation. Maybe… Maybe Macy didn't feel like that about him… Maybe.. He didn't know what to think

"Since when have you felt this way Nick?"

That wasn't a question he had been expecting. In fact he was quite sure that he hadn't been expecting any questions. Come on… He was Nick of JONAS and she was Macy Misa super fan… Okay that had sounded just a bit insufferable… but seriously… Even Frankie had known that Macy liked Nick. Atleast that is what everyone thought. Now it seemed like everyone might've been wrong.

Nick had almost no idea how to answer her question. He didn't know whether he should tell her the truth and say that he had discovered new sides to her the previous day and had found that he wanted to know more… a lot more about her… Or should he just make up something that sounded nice when he told her. Nah!... Macy deserved to know the truth.

"Welll… I would have to say yesterday… I know it sounds really stupid Macy but yesterday was the day I found so many new things about you and I liked each and every one of them. I wanna know more Macy… I want to know everything there is to know about you and I don't know… I just… I just like you…"

Again, Macy reacted in a way Nick hadn't been expecting. Her huge hazel eyes filled with tears and they overflowed on both cheeks till it was like Niagara recreated inside the firehouse. She was shaking silently with the intensity of her feelings and there was nothing Nick could do but stand by and watch as she refused to let him console her in any way.

"Why Nick?... Why now?.. Why today?... Why?"

She was almost crying out loud and before he could even begin to formulate a proper response, she was back again

"Why did you have to do this now Nick?... When you're just going to be up and leaving for two months? I just got the courage to give you up Nick… And you go and do something like this… I just can't… I don't know what to do… It took me so much time and heartache… and I finally decided yesterday that I would give up on my feelings for you… I had already said my goodbyes and I was almost done with it and you had to come along and spoil it all Nick… Why?"

The accusation he could hear in her voice rang loud and clear inside the confines of the porch.

"Look Nick… It's not that I don't trust you when you say that you like me and that you have feelings for me… But just think about it… By your own admission, you found out something you liked about me yesterday and you wanted to know more… Isn't that just simple curiosity Nick?.. What happens when you find everything there is to know about me?... What happens when the curiosity is gone… Or when you find something about me that you don't like?... What exactly do you know about me Nick?..."

She was pacing back and forth across the porch now, her hands waving his big gestures as she made her point and Nick found that he simply couldn't take his eyes off her. She was so passionate about what she believed in that even while completely decimating his declaration about his feelings for her, she was breath-taking in her intensity

"Let us say for argument's sake… That I say I like you back and we agree to date or something. What happens when you go away on tour five minutes later and maybe… I don't know… find someone you like more… or someone who you are more curious about?... What happens then Nick? Do you understand what I am saying?... At this stage I am a lot more emotionally invested in this than you are… I have a lot more to lose if you decide that this isn't going to work out… I don't think I can deal with my heart breaking all over again over you Nick…"

He had been listening to her ranting patiently for the last five minutes but now he couldn't take it anymore. Gently, he caught hold of her hands in his and pulled her to a stop in front of him.

"Macy… give me some credit… I know the difference between simple curiosity, infatuation and something deeper. Please believe me that even though my timing is less than desirable, I do have feelings for you… Strong feelings Macy… You might not believe me or the depth of my feelings yet but all I am asking is for you to give me a chance…to give 'us' a chance."

He squeezed her hands in his lightly, silently willing her to give their relationship a chance.

"I don't know a lot about you yet… But what I know, I know I like… And I am sure that there are things about me that you don't know too… I just want a chance for us to get to know each other better. If you want we don't have to go out or date or anything yet… We could just get to know each other… as… as friends… and then later, if both of us feel comfortable with it, we could try… we could try dating maybe?"

Macy appeared to be in deep thought, contemplating all that he had said as Nick waited, his stomach twisting with tension and apprehension at the thought of her rejecting his argument. He was so busy already formulating a counter argument for that scenario that he almost missed it when she raised her eyes to his and smiled her bright, usual sunny Macy smile at him. He felt the impact of her smile hit him like a warm ocean wave and basked in the feeling for a second before gathering himself and glancing questioningly at her

"There is a reason why you are a world famous songwriter Nicholas Jerry Lucas… You sure do have a way with words…"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before continuing, as if she was readying herself for some big decision.

"Okay… You've convinced me… There might not be a lot of things I don't know about you… I was an over obsessive super fan of yours at one point of time you know…. But whatever it is, I would like to get to know you better and if you feel the same way, I would like it if you wanted to get to know me. You have to understand Nick… I just didn't want to get hurt again. I've had these feelings for you for such a long time and I had almost given up on ever having them reciprocated…"

He had never known that a blush could look so pretty on anyone's face. It was almost like a wave of pink was slowly making its way up her neck into her cheeks and suffusing her softly rounded face with a pink glow that was oddly very becoming. He squeezed her hands again to let her know he understood

"For what it's worth Mace… I am so sorry for being such a blind idiot that I didn't see what was in front of me and I almost let you go away… I assure you that I will make up for it by being the best friend you could ever ask for…"

"Ummm… I don't know Nick… You and me… Friends… Don you honestly think that'll work?"

Had he not been focusing on her, he might've missed the teasing lilt in her voice or the slightly upturned lips that signified happiness and he returned her sentiments the same way

"Hmmm… yeah… now that I think about it, I don't think so… yeah… you and me… there's no way we could work as friends…."

Nick was smiling his sweet half smile now and Macy was smiling right back at him, her face aglow with happiness

"Yeah…there's this….. Thing between us right?... It's never gonna let us be just friends…. Don't you agree?"

"Of course… I know my girlfriend… and she's always right…"

Nick said, winking down at her.

"Hey Lucas… don't get ahead of yourself… You haven't asked me to be your girlfriend yet… and I haven't said yes…"

"You're absolutely right Macy… I'd better correct my oversight this moment itself…"

He cleared his throat importantly before taking her hands back in his again

"Macy Annabelle Misa, would you do me the honor of consenting to be my girlfriend?"

Macy pretended to think about it and had to be poked a little by a petulant Nick before she laughed

"Hmmm… lemme think… I think… I think it would be better if I showed you what I think"

Nick had no time to react before he felt Macy's small frame collide with his body and his arms automatically wrapped against hers, his hands coming to rest on her lower back as if they had been doing that for all their lives and not just for the first time. Her lips found his and Nick literally felt time stop for a moment before he tightened his hold on Macy and kissed her back with everything he had in him.

Nick had fallen hard and fast for seven girls in his life before Macy… But somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew for sure that there would be no more girls he would be falling for in his life. Macy Misa was the last and final girlfriend he was ever going to have and he knew that she would be filling that position in his life for a long, long time before… Nah… he didn't wanna waste time thinking about that far into the future when he could be right here in the present, enjoying the moment kissing his brand new girlfriend.

* * *

Deciding that they had spent enough time out on the porch, the new couple went back into the house to find that all preparations for the tour were done and the Lucas family was uncharacteristically, ready to leave on time. In the hurry of getting ready to go on tour, no one seemed to notice that Nick's hand was now entwined securely with Macy's. Stella, with her keen Stella senses might've noticed had she not been completely transported to seventh heaven by Joe induced euphoria. Big Rob was already in the SUV, waiting for them at the garage. Tom and Sandy were frantically running around trying to remember some last minute things they were sure they had forgotten. Frankie with a camera in hand was trying to get in between Joe and Stella, who were sharing a teary farewell. Kevin was already out saying bye to his animal friends. That left Nick and Macy to deal with their goodbyes before the gang left for the tour.

"Well rockstar… I guess this is it… You're all ready to leave for your awesome tour… have fun… break a millions hearts, rock all the concerts… play your heart out but just remember that there's a girl back home that's waiting for you to come back okay?"

"Man… This sucks… I finally get the girl of my dreams and I have to leave you for two whole months five minutes after we've gotten together. I don't wanna go… I don't wanna leave you and go… not now…"

She hugged him close to her

"Hey… we'll always have each other okay… Even if this dating thing doesn't work out I will always be your friend. I love you too much to let you go without a fight okay?... Now go out there and charm all the girls with that half smile of yours and have the time of your life… I'll miss you a lot… But there's always phone calls, email, video chat and a dozen other ways to keep in touch. And we'll see each other in two short months…"

"Yeah… I know but its just not the same as having you in front of me… I can't hug or kiss you whenever I feel like it through a video chat or a phone call… It would be nice to see you and hear your voice when I miss you but it still wouldn't be the same… Weird isn't it?... Just two days ago I don't know if I would've believed it myself but I know that I am gonna miss you so freaking much during these two months…"

With an almost bruising kiss, Nick disentangled himself from his girlfriend and went out the side door to the garage where the rest of the family was stowing the luggage and waiting to get on to the SUV. Macy went on to stand next to Stella, who looked like she could use a hug and wrapped her arms around her softly, silently lending the teary blonde her support. Both the girls hugged the parents, Frankie and the boys goodbye, spending a discrete extra couple of seconds on their new boyfriends and stood back as the family got into the vehicle and got ready to leave.

They were both very sad as they watched the big, black SUV roll out of the garage and head out to the airport. Inside the car, two of the three brothers that formed the world famous band JONAS were feeling miserable. They had just gotten together with the girl they each knew would be the love of their life and now they were leaving them for two whole months. The SUV screeched to a halt as two voices called out simultaneously

"Stop the car!... We need to go back…"

Joe and Nick looked at each other in astonishment as they heard the same sentence leave the other's mouth. Grinning in recognition of each other's sentiments, they both got out of the car and ran back to the firehouse while the rest of the family gaped in surprise and incomprehension.

The girls had just left the firehouse and were sadly trudging back to Stella's house to drown their sorrows in ice cream. Macy just then remembered that Stella didn't know about her and Nick and was just going to open her mouth to tell her when both of their heads snapped up on hearing familiar footsteps pounding the pavement in front of them. Nothing could've surprised the girls more than to see their respective boyfriends running up the road to them.

For the next ten seconds, they could neither of them see anything other than the boy they loved and waited with bated breath as they were both sure that it could be something that they must've forgotten. Everything else was forgotten as Nick's fast moving body almost slammed into Macy's astonished one and Joe pulled an equally surprised Stella to him. Both the brothers seemed to be thinking on the same wavelength as they both bent down to kiss their new girlfriend thoroughly before pulling away, panting from the run as well as the kiss.

"I love you…"

Two voices uttered the same statement almost simultaneously in the same assured, calm voice to their two girlfriends. The two girls might also have been on the same wavelength because their reactions could've been timed up to the split second. Both Macy and Stella teared up, wrapped their arms around their boyfriends and burrowing their heads into the boys' shoulders, echoed the sentiments before reaching up to press a soft kiss on their lips.

"I love you too…"

Five minutes later, two boys in a non-descript black SUV travelling to the New Jersey airport smiled softly as they received texts from their respective girlfriends while the rest of the family sat curiously silent, struck dumb from the developments of the morning.

'Miss you already… Love you… 3'

Nick smiled softly, thinking about his girlfriend… his girlfriend… it felt nice to say it and associate the term with a certain bubbly brunette fan of theirs. In fact it felt great. Macy had agreed to give their relationship a chance. He was sure everything else would work itself out in time. He was sure of it now and in time, Macy would be sure of it too.

He was now looking forward to the tour. Just so that he could get it all wrapped up as quickly as possible and get back to the hazel-eyed brunette waiting for him back home.

The End... Or should I say the beginning... :)

**_A/N : reviews are always welcome guys... plz review to tell me how you liked this ficlet... hearts and JONAS... Macy Bear :)_**


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